{"id":7498,"date":"2013-02-27T00:08:46","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T07:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=7498"},"modified":"2013-03-08T08:06:21","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T15:06:21","slug":"what-do-you-have-on-your-dvd-burner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/what-do-you-have-on-your-dvd-burner\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do You Have on Your DVD Burner?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Kaner and Maher El-Kady have \u201cmicro-scale graphene-based supercapacitors\u201d<\/a> on their front DVD burner, showing an energetic alternative to saving all those \u201880\u2019s rockers to disc.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kaner is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and professor of chemistry and biochemistry.\u00a0 He and graduate student El-Kady are using a \u201cconsumer grade\u201d LightScribe DVD burner to make dozens of micro supercapacitors on what looks like a typical DVD.<\/p>\n

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Graphite Oxide coating on DVD converted to layered graphene micro supercapacitors<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Kaner\u2019s research lab hosts 17 undergraduate and graduate student researchers who\u2019ve helped amass at least 390 papers in four main areas of research; conducting polymers, graphene, superhard materials and thermoelectric materials.\u00a0 Their recent investigation of supercapacitor fabrication seems to encompass almost all of these fields.<\/p>\n

An abstract for their recent article in Nature Communications<\/em><\/a> hints at the possibilities this research may realize in the commercial world. \u201cThe rapid development of miniaturized electronic devices has increased the demand for compact on-chip energy storage. Microscale supercapacitors have great potential to complement or replace batteries and electrolytic capacitors in a variety of applications. However, conventional micro-fabrication techniques have proven to be cumbersome in building cost-effective micro-devices, thus limiting their widespread application. Here we demonstrate a scalable fabrication of graphene micro-supercapacitors over large areas by direct laser writing on graphite oxide films using a standard LightScribe DVD burner. More than 100 micro-supercapacitors can be produced on a single disc in 30\u2009min or less. The devices are built on flexible substrates for flexible electronics and on-chip uses that can be integrated with MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems) or CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor)\u00a0in a single chip. Remarkably, miniaturizing the devices to the microscale results in enhanced charge-storage capacity and rate capability. These micro-supercapacitors demonstrate a power density of ~200\u2009W\u2009cm\u22123, which is among the highest values achieved for any supercapacitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photonics Spectra<\/a> queried El-Kady about the origins of this finding, telling the on-line publication, \u201cAt the early stages of this research, we invented the method of converting graphite oxide to graphene using the LightScribe DVD drives found in our computers.\u00a0 Microscopic analysis showed that the produced graphene is well exfoliated without any sticking together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LightScribe laser simultaneously produces electrodes with an open network structure reducing the electrolyte ions\u2019 diffusion path and allowing a fast, high-power charge.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019We also measured an interesting specific surface area of over 1500 m2\/g, potentially useful for high charge capacity,\u2019 El-Kady said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Additionally, the electrical conductivity of this graphene, which is another key factor for high-power supercapacitors, was very decent. We thought this could be the perfect material for making high-performance supercapacitors.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He showed the potential for the device by lighting an LED and demonstrating that to Professor Kaner, as shown on the video.<\/p>\n